TWO HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE: When Wishing Was Having VI
Next Chapter: May 19 (approximate)
******
“Let Me Take Your Luggage…‘luggage’, not belongings or baggage, but something heavy enough that it needs to be lugged around…. That’s one thing to think about. Travel…could be a relevant part of it for you to consider or not. Wizards are so proud of their ability to travel in ways the rest of the universe can’t that there’s an association between travel and magic itself that comes up in all kinds of situations where it barely belongs. And so even though the System’s use of a travel-related word was probably intentional, it might only be so in the most obvious way. They traveled to find Earth. You are one of their servants. ‘Let me help you lug your heavy things, Traveler,’ could practically be the same as ‘Let me help you with your heavy things, Wizard.’ And if anything is interesting about that it’s just the implication that your skill should be good for holding magical objects as well as ordinary ones. After considering the luggage angle, focus on ‘take’ since it’s not ‘help you with your luggage’ after all. It’s not even ‘carry.’ ‘Take’ could have been used to imply something stronger, don’t you think? An unretractable offer. Or can your entrusters take back what they give you? Reach through your shield and remove it from your hands? That should be in your faculty observation records from last term…no. It’s not. Torsten thinks being laconic is a virtue; if only he could exchange that opinion with one of the many stupid people who think the opposite. So is that something that can happen?”
Alden hadn’t even been off the floor for long enough to take a couple of sips from his water bottle before a “see instructor” notice showed up on his interface. He and Ignacio had both gone to talk to Ash, who had suddenly started stringing sentences together like he was trying to hit a quota he’d been ignoring for the past two weeks.
The three of them stood near the start of pincushion alley. A Wright was leading her team through, protecting them with a set of fast-moving metallic rectangles that she controlled with a glove she’d built.
Ignacio kept glancing through the barrier to watch their run, which was more attention than they were getting from Ash. Alden hoped the instructor was at least going to watch the replay of it later since he was so focused on Alden and Ignacio right now.
Ignacio had already talked about how using his weapon recall skill on Alden had happened from his point of view. And Alden had described an experience he thought an insightful and fortunate Avowed might have had if they’d been in his position earlier. He’d been a little more specific than Ignacio could be, even if he couldn’t be honest about how he’d done it. But the instructor wasn’t through with them after their brief explanations or put off by the fact that Rabbit levitation couldn’t possibly be the next big trend in Avowed powers.
“Well?” Ash asked, brow arched as he regarded Alden. His nearly shoulder-length hair was held back by a thin black band that had some lint stuck to it.
“They can’t bypass my preservation and take things back from me like that,” said Alden. “But I don’t think it would be the best scenario for entrustment if my entruster regretted the arrangement and I was playing keep-away with their stuff.”
<<Is thinking so much about a skill name really helpful, Instructor?>> Ignacio asked. <<The words will have slightly different meanings in every language. And the System…>>
“The System doesn’t provide as much information as it should, but it also doesn’t lie,” said Ash. “In a case like this where nobody else is known to have the skill and it’s disappeared from the list, he’s not going to be able to learn from other Avowed with the same powers, so he might as well take apart every single detail of what he does have to work with. Anyway, it’s just a starting place for him, a way of generating ideas. Come up with all the nuances you can for each word, figure out how to test them, do it, repeat. Where are Luna’s notes on you? I know she must have some.”
The question was directed to his interface more than to Alden.
Getting his interest was a goal, so go us. But why did it have to go immediately to my skill name and the System’s ability to lie?
Standing here knowing much more about those topics than Ash did was uncomfortable.
“Did you see me catch the knife?” he asked. “I’ve been practicing that kind of thing, but this time was incredible. Like my hands and my skill knew how to do what Ignacio wanted before I could think it through. It’s happened before. Practicing with Instructor Waker showed me it could, but that was just tennis balls. It’s hard to make it happen. And Ignacio… ”
Alden wanted Ash to bestow some advice onto his teammate instead of thinking so hard about the definition of luggage. “I couldn’t have done it without Ignacio. I wouldn’t have even asked to preserve his Meister weapon. I was afraid that might mess it up…the interaction between my skill and his link to his knife. But right before we started, he was thinking about how entrusters should be willing to trust me with things, and he went for it.”
Alden looked at the Meister. Judging by his broad smile, he hadn’t lost his post-win energy. Their teammates were all standing together a short walk away, and when their voices got loud, he could hear that they were still celebratory. Ignacio had eked that win out for them a second after Alden assumed it would be a loss, throwing himself over the finish with the kind of injuries that would have been the end for their run if he’d been even the slightest bit slower.
“You did great from start to finish,” said Alden. “And then you did that. Weren’t you even a little worried for your knife?”
<<I was more worried about stabbing you with it as you fell. Think of how that would have looked to everyone.>>
Ash shooed away his interface windows like they were annoying flies. “All right. I’ll talk to Luna whenever we run into each other. Ignacio, the important thing to take from this is that your teammate here may have much more potential to be a catalyst for your own growth than the average practice partner. You should try to create more novel magical interactions with him. A skill that responds to the skill of another Avowed in this way isn’t something you’re going to encounter often.”
“We practiced a lot this week. To be ready for this class,” Ignacio said seriously. “All of us.”
Good, thought Alden. Get in as many plugs for our team as you can.
“Kon and Jeffy worked really hard, too,” he added himself. So you should let them run before the end of class.
“There’s nothing special about hard work,” Ash said.
Alden and Ignacio exchanged looks with each other. The instructor was actually paying attention to them now, for better or worse, so he noticed…and sighed.
“If you want to be one of the most magically adept Avowed on this planet, which is something most of you claim to want as students of this program, then the correct amount of time to spend thinking about your powers and practicing with them is as much as possible. If I tell you to work hard, it’s like a reminder to brush your teeth. It’s the kind of advice teachers seem to be expected to give, so I give it. But I really think that those of you who need that reminder in this environment have fallen too far outside of expectations for me to forcibly inject you with motivation. Practicing your talents for hours outside of class should be obvious. When I notice something that’s not obvious happening for any of you, I’ll make you aware of it so that you can apply your hard work to that instead of all the normal things you’re doing.”
He swept an upturned palm toward Alden. “I can’t promise anything, but this one has shown that he has the potential to be helpful to you in an unusual way, Ignacio. It’s very hard to do something truly new with a skill as basic and well-known as your type of weapon recall. But you just did. Maybe there is inspiration for you there. Once you leave school and arrive among the S’s who all know how to brush their teeth, you’ll find that hard work has a ceiling. Working on the right things becomes one of the few options you have to advance beyond other Avowed at your level. When the basics are mastered, the known is learned, and the practice is done, we’re left with leveraging opportunities and inviting good luck. Going after luck is disappointing most of the time. Just to warn you. But you won’t find anyone standing on the tip of the peak without it. And I’m sure Alden wants to help his teammates.”
“I do,” said Alden, “but you’re such a— ”
“Your skill recovers fully in about three hours?” Ash interrupted. “There was a note about that.”
“Yes.”
“That’s fast. If I put your team on first run and last, they could try things out on you twice.”
******
“Were you going to call him something bad?” Ignacio asked in a low voice as they headed back to join their team.
“I might have been. I thought better of it since it sounds like he’s thinking of giving us two runs next Friday. I don’t want to ruin our chance at that. But he really makes me miss Instructor Klein. ”
Alden switched to text. [I stand by calling him a six-year-old. There’s something so childish about his boredom with everything we’re doing here that doesn’t fall onto his own personal list of what matters. Can you imagine Klein saying our hard work doesn’t really deserve consideration? And if Ash is working hard on something, it’s not on treating us all fairly. I don’t even disagree with everything he said, but winning his attention doesn’t feel like as much of a prize as I was hoping for. Why is he so much more enraging than someone like Instructor Plim even though they’re both into experimenting on their students?]
He was just venting. He knew the difference. She wanted to get students excited about being creative with their powers, like it was a shared endeavor. She cared about them.
“He didn’t say anything about our floating island,” Ignacio said. “I was proud of it.”
“It was the best. We all should be. I think he must have cared about it, but maybe more for his personal development than for ours. And then it got overshadowed by our next trick. I guess it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us instead of the obstacle he clearly designed to satisfy his own curiosity?”
“I’m sorry he only said things about you to say things about me.”
Alden snorted as they reached the others. “That was fine. And not your fault. And he did start by trying to give me advice about generating new ideas for my skill.”
“You got ideas?” Haoyu asked, catching the tail of their conversation. “What did Ash say about how well we did?”
“Not enough, honestly,” said Alden. “He wanted to make sure we all know that my main worth is as a catalyst for the advancement of your talents. Do lots of magic with me to see if we can make up more novel combos like the one Ignacio and I just pulled off. Because luck is hard to come by and maybe you can squeeze some out of me. He says you’re going to need it when you’re old, because standing out from the crowd of other powerful Avowed gets hard.”
They all looked confused by that summary.
“Is that really what he said?” Kon asked Ignacio.
Ignacio thought briefly. “More or less.”
“Huh…maybe we should’ve expected something like that since he only called the two of you over. With other instructors, there would be comments for everyone. He should send us some after class. It would help us entertain him more if he did, so it’s in his best interest.” Kon leaned sideways to look around Alden toward the instructor. “I’ll suggest it to him.”
Writher was twitching in Lexi’s hand. “Being a catalyst for us and new magical interactions is sort of like what you said you wanted to practice at the beginning of this class.”
“It is,” said Alden. “It’s a great idea.”
“Then why do you sound so annoyed about it?”
“Because…I was trying to respect my skill by using it better. I don’t think he respects it. He’s just excited I might be a stepping stone for cooler Avowed to launch themselves off of.”
“You’re cool to me,” said Haoyu.
“Back at you.”
“Did he say how an Agility Brute should use you as a stepping stone?”
Alden turned toward Mehdi.
“I mean that with respect,” said Mehdi. “Lots of respect.”
******
Many of their Coursing classmates had questions about how a Meister had made a Rabbit float. Most of them seemed to understand that Alden’s skill was the uncommon thing in the equation, but even knowing that, they directed far more of their curiosity toward Ignacio.
What did it feel like? What would they do with it in future classes? Etcetera…
Alden didn’t want to be hounded by questions, and he did think it was happening to some extent because Ignacio had looked more like the important party, swinging around and throwing knives. Plus, everyone understood Meisters better than they understood what he did. But being overlooked was extra noticeable when he had the answers they wanted, and they never even asked him for them.
Although that didn’t apply to Vandy, who interrogated him thoroughly enough that anyone who ever felt like they’d missed the chance could just look over her notes.
Do I wish I could tell them how I really did it? He asked himself after class had finally ended, while he was heading back to the dorm with Ignacio, Kon, and Mehdi.
Lexi had gone to get coffee. Haoyu and Jeffy wanted breakfast at Cafeteria North.
I don’t actually want any of the attention Ignacio just got, he decided. I think what’s throwing me off is having the urge to geek out about how I used my free authority to do something that ended up supporting Bearer…with such dramatic results!…but not being able to share that with the people who saw it. And Ignacio who felt it.
There was also some pressure he couldn’t explain to any of them. He’d taken on a much more active role than they knew, and he didn’t want to keep doing it that way. But Ignacio might be disappointed if Rabbit Recall, as Kon had dubbed it, didn’t work. So Alden needed him to learn how to do his half of it on his own.
He’ll get it with practice. He seems close. I’ll just teach him to perceive what he’s doing correctly. Without letting on. Secret teaching…can’t be worse than Ash.
“Ignacio, since Rabbit Recall only works on me, do you think we should practice it soon, or is it less important than other things we could be trying out? We could save it for when we think we’ll want to use it on a specific run.”
“Are you crazy!?” Mehdi said loudly before Ignacio could speak. He gaped at Alden. “You only had one success. What if you forget how to do it? You have to keep repeating new moves while they’re fresh.”
<<I don’t want to lose the feeling of getting it right,>> Ignacio said. <<You shouldn’t either. Can’t we practice later today?>>
“I agree with them,” said Kon. “I was going to suggest you practice as soon as your skill was back to full strength. I was also going to say you should skip class for it until I remembered your upcoming class is with a wizard. Someone from the university will be breathing down your neck if you’re even a few minutes late for one of those.”
He was carrying the last few of the chocolate almond snacks Lexi had pulled out of the fridge this morning, and he pointed one up at the sky. “The System will be disappointed in you if you learn how to do something so fantastic with your skill and then just…don’t try again for a few weeks.”
“Who cares if Ignacio can only do it with you?” Mehdi was still staring at Alden like Alden had suggested something unfathomable. “What about all the other Meisters you can probably do it with? Did you forget they existed?”
“No…I just wasn’t thinking hard about them.”
“There are a lot of Meisters,” Mehdi said. “Most of them get some way to recall their tools.”
“I know.”
“You need to master this before the window of opportunity passes.”
“Okay. I will.”
“Where is your urgency?!” Mehdi looked to the other two for help. “It’s because he’s a globie or something. You guys need to tell him he’s not allowed to learn how to float and then not do it again for weeks.”
“I said I will,” said Alden.
“But you said it like you were talking about nothing major!”
I’m just not worried I’ll forget how to do it. Should I say so, or would that sound worse to them? Catching the knife was the more difficult to repeat thing from his own perspective.
They’d reached the Garden Hall garden. A woman who was repairing one of the climate-controlled planting beds looked over at them.
“I wasn’t going to say this,” said Ignacio as they entered the building and passed the notice board. “Because I wasn’t sure why it was like it was. But I understood the speed better.”
Alden stopped at the bottom of the stairs, keeping to the side so that he wasn’t in the way of the flow of morning traffic. “The speed?”
Ignacio stepped to the side with him as a trio of guys thundered down the steps, talking about the upcoming weekend.
“The speed of the recall.” He sounded excited as he switched to Spanish. <<It was much easier to control than usual. Learning that has been hard, but with you it wasn’t too difficult. I was afraid of throwing you into the ceiling, since you’re a person instead of a knife. So I went slow. Then you said faster, and I went faster. Then you wanted to move even faster, so I called you as fast as I thought I could catch you. And it all worked just like I imagined.>>
“Fine, you two. Have multiple breakthroughs in a day all by yourselves. Don’t worry about the rest of us, watching from the sidelines as you literally rise above us,” said Kon.
<<Practicing how I recall you might make me better at recalling my knives,>> Ignacio said to Alden. <<Maybe you’re a training shortcut for me. That’s what I’m hoping.>>
“See!” said Mehdi. “‘We can wait a while to practice the technique that might revolutionize training for the most common type of Meister ability,’ said no Avowed ever.”
“I’m really glad it helped you that way, Ignacio,” said Alden. “I’ll make sure we fry my skill at least twice more today.”
“Thank you!” Ignacio said. “I’ll be ready when you are.”
“Revolutionizing Meisters as first years— ”
“Mehdi!” Alden exclaimed. “Quit saying that. How can it be revolutionizing? There’s only one of me. I hope Ignacio’s right, and it’s a shortcut that will give him the knack for improving his normal weapon recalls, too. But even if it is, do you imagine me going door to door to give every Meister on Anesidora access to the same shortcut?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” said Mehdi. “But if it works, you should think about doing that. You might get richer and save more lives indirectly through all of those Meisters you upgrade than you will as a Rabbit superhero.”
Alden was drawing a blank on appropriate responses.
“It might actually be your patriotic duty. You’d start with high ranks and work your way down. I have a few relatives who are Meisters.”
“Thank you for the input,” Alden said, starting up the stairs. “I’ll be ignoring it.”
At least Kon was amused. Alden could hear it in his voice as he asked Mehdi what Alden should charge for his services.
******
******
Alden had more than enough time to change clothes and grab the few supplies he needed for his storytelling class. But it didn’t feel like enough as he tried to practice bits of the story in between popping in and out of his room to stare at Lute, who was innocently practicing his own story in the living area, unaware that he was doing vicious damage to Alden’s confidence with his “Little Red Riding Hood”-inspired tale.
An origami klerm sat on Alden’s desk. He was examining it when Lute let out a howl that was so hopeless people were going to be crying for the wolf and plotting revenge against the girl and the grandmother. They were the villains in his story, not-so-subtly named Jess Riding Hood and Growlia Smellra.
“All the best people wear these chains, Young Wolf,” Lute said in flawless Artonan that somehow managed to capture Aulia’s light, charming way of speaking. “You’ll thank me soon.”
“I love you,” said Jess Riding Hood. “I love you.”
That was her only line for the entire second half of the story, but it was frequently repeated, the sound of it growing stranger every time as Lute warbled and crackled through it until he sounded like a damaged antique radio.
It was similar to something Warin-doyis had done in one of the stories he’d told them last week, but Alden hadn’t realized anyone would just go for it like Lute was.
I didn’t know we were breaking out the advanced techniques so quickly.
“I’m not going to suck,” Alden said to the klerm. “I have you. I have the story memorized.”
The wolf howled again. Closer to Alden’s room.
Either Lute is coming down the hall, or he’s learned to throw his voice.
Alden stuck his head out the door. “You’re done practicing?” he said when he saw Lute heading into his own room.
“It’s about time to go, and I can’t wear my pajamas to class.” Lute yawned. “I’m going to wear all black.”
“All black?”
“The room will be dark. My puppets light up. I want the audience to see them, not me, so the black will help me fade into the background while the story comes to life.”
“The puppets light up now…I’m so happy for you.”
Lute blinked at him. “You sound nervous. It’s just a class.”
“I’m not. Weren’t you the nervous one before last week? I learned to be callable by Meisters this morning. That’s not something anyone else on Earth accomplished today. I’m going to tell a story. A funny one. That I spent all week working on and memorizing. I memorized it. Don’t even have to read it off my interface. The funny version might not be the best story I could’ve told; maybe it’s not the one that felt really meaningful, but it’s good enough.”
“You sound nervous for sure. Do you want a self-confidence wordchain to help with that?”
“No way. I might boldly ruin my life if you hit me with one of those things. We’ll be fine.”
“We?”
Alden held up his paper klerm.
Comments (246)
I know I’m late to this chapter party, but is anyone else getting the feeling that Ash might be searching for wizard magic unlock codes, like Aulia and the Informant character? Like maybe he’s spent decades trying to make the universe obey him and he’s searching his own and the kid’s newest skills to try and find out how to become a wizard? That’s why he works with high schoolers rather than the more exciting uni students. He’s seen it all by now & hates it, but continues to wade through ‘spinach’ everyday hoping to find the Ultimate Answer before anyone else…
'He and Ignacio had both gone to talk to Ash, who had suddenly started stringing sentences together like he was trying to hit a quota he’d been ignoring for the past two weeks.' XD 'Getting his interest was a goal, so go us. But why did it have to go immediately to my skill name and the System’s ability to lie? Standing here knowing much more about those topics than Ash did was uncomfortable.' >:) '“I mean that with respect,” said Mehdi. “Lots of respect.”' Ha 'Although that didn’t apply to Vandy, who interrogated him thoroughly enough that anyone who ever felt like they’d missed the chance could just look over her notes.' Ha 'Secret teaching…can’t be worse than Ash.' Ha 'unaware that he was doing vicious damage to Alden’s confidence with his “Little Red Riding Hood”-inspired tale.' heh 'He was examining it when Lute let out a howl that was so hopeless people were going to be crying for the wolf and plotting revenge against the girl and the grandmother. They were the villains in his story, not-so-subtly named Jess Riding Hood and Growlia Smellra.' XD '“No way. I might boldly ruin my life if you hit me with one of those things. We’ll be fine.” “We?” Alden held up his paper klerm.' :D Thank you for the chapter :D
Edit suggestions: typos, grammar, style, misc. Feel free to ignore. - with the kind of injuries that would have been the end for their run -> kinds of injuries - Do I wish I could tell them how I really did it? He asked himself after class -> it? he asked himself - But Ignacio might be disappointed if Rabbit Recall, as Kon had dubbed it, didn’t work. -> didn't work again. // no longer worked. - I’ll just teach him to perceive what he’s doing correctly. -> teach him how to perceive - Secret teaching…can’t be worse than Ash. -> Teaching secretely…
Everyone: Ash is an esshole Me: Ash is Autistic It’s like looking at a mirror image. Except less effort into being aware of people’s feelings. How I know. 1) I’m Autistic 2) The lack of critiques. I don’t often critique stuff when I reading stories because I don’t see as many flaws as others. I imagine Ash doesn’t because Ash doesn’t fully understand what mistakes these students our making. So he shows examples of other heroes for them to learn from. 3) Easy to manipulate. Terrible Social Skills Equals not seeing the manipulation. It also means he unintentionally seems like an esshole. 4) His obsession with Alden’s skill and the stunt they pulled. He literally over thought it. *Note: If Ash is Autistic then ignore how he says things. We really don’t see a difference between one way to say something versus another.
Interesting! I like your perspective.
I'm surprised that Ash didn't mention Ignacio's other skills at all. The Leading Knife is extremely applicable to making one object follow a similar one. And Ignacio already does think of Avowed as weapons...
!!SOUP ALERT!!
Noooo, it's been 8 hours since I last posted. 🤣 Thought that would be enough time...
Technically "at least 12 hours" from last night covers the period of time from noon today till the end of time... So, you know, we're still pretty ahead of the average.
It irritates me that now I have to actively tell Patron (iOS) that I want my comments sorted by newest, not most popular, so I can check to see if Sleyca has left an update on when a chapter might be released. And I can’t find a way to set newest as my preference.
Android app is the same issue not remembering, so patreon decided its not worth remembering. which is a wild choice since the website DOES remember your choice. At least we have the choice to fix it, there was 2 weeks or so where it was just Top only. Maybe app preferences will take another 2 weeks
Just gonna warn you guys that tonight's chapter will be one of the super late ones. How do I know? Because I start work later than usual tomorrow so I actually could stay up until midnight PST to read it and kind of want to. So it definitely won't be there.
Sorry, I didnt make soup yesterday. My bad everyone
I believe that Sleyca's not really a morning person when it comes to writing. That or the plot is twisting.
Im expecting an Elder's Croak type chapter for the finale of When Wishing was Having
I wished. Where's the having?
That worked in ancient time of myths, nowadays it is wishing and waiting.
Surely any minute now
I'm reading a book, but coming back here every 15 mins. If not tonight (It's 21:15 here) hopefully I'll have it to read in bed tomorrow, before getting up for work.
Eugh, I have lost the refresh war. I'll see you guys tomorrow.
By the power of the refresh, I summon thee new chapter!
Here, you can have a fake notification instead.
I thought about Luna the über-Trainer of path of ascension. Like wtf can she transmigrate stories/universes for special training 🤣
Prediction: next chapter title is "The Frog Prince"
the current title is already bound to the frog prince fairytale, those are the words it starts with. So it will be, in tradition: TWO HUNDED NINETY-SIX: When Wishing Was Having IIIX
I'll make a far-off bet that Alden is in the process of awakening all the Meisters' sense for magic, making them all wizards. And Mother thinks its hilarious, with Earth laughing about it.
condemning every meister to unimaginable soul torture and likely suicide for little benefit isn't a good thing, and I doubt mother would be so cruel as to find it funny
Earliest ETA is 12 hours from now. I'm going to have to do some sleep in between now and finishing up.
Thanks for letting us know! Get some rest!
Thank you for the chapter!
Today is going to be a refreshing day. Refreshing and refreshing this site...
Today? I calculated it wrong! Damn anesidoran time zone.
> But why did it have to go immediately to my skill name and the System’s ability to lie? Getting a little touchy there.
Next sentence should be: "It is not like Artonans will just tell him everything about his skill either."
Next chapter predictions in haiku, or otherwise? Passionate Lute howls Real distress in artful guise Alden braves a croak
Lute bombs; cultural misunderstanding abounds The Klerms go viral
So there’s no way that this is going to be a one off experience. Alden will inevitably trigger epiphanies for more of his classmates. I think he’s got two more assisted breakthroughs to go before other students start actively trying to take the same Talent Development classes as him.
Alden will be a welcome Rabbit guest at any S-Rank club.
I just had a thought of how Alden can help Lexi. People would ordinarily not be able to grab the pain-inducing end of Writher outside gym class. For obvious reasons. However, Alden has those rings of protection which will (probably) keep him from Writher-harm. Maybe get both of them in the mindspace of 'Alden needs to get on the other side of this door'. Alden grabs and preserves Mind Writher, Lexi phases him through the door. Thoughts?
Tell us ?
Wonder why Ignacio could control the speed better when Alden was part of the package
Interesting to speculate. Alden's water trick with Stu during the Here to There had him suddenly become aware of the water to such an extent he could aplit it down to exactly half to the individual molecule. Bearer has this aspect of precisely defining the borne reality. Perhaps a side effect of this helped Ignacio grasp a better awareness of the "knife" he recalled.
Got goosebumps reading Lute's story. Just imagine Jessica as RRH and grandma as Aulia.
I am very much enjoying Ash as an antagonist, even though I would despise him in real life.
> "Can you imagine Klein saying our hard work doesn’t really deserve consideration" Actually, yes Alden. I specifically recall what Klein said to you when you were in the admissions process. '...attending CNH is a waste of your potential as *a person*. And it is a waste of our faculty's time.' (emphasis mine) Look, I agree Klein turned out to be an alright guy, and a better teacher, but that line is *harsh*, if not downright insulting. Your potential 'as a person' is not something anyone but you or someone who's known you for years has a right to comment on. It's worse than anything Ash has said, IMO. Its why Alden was afraid of him for the rest of the semester. I'm surprised Alden forgot it so quickly now.
Yeah, except he withheld his opinion until Alden explicitly asked him, and gave some solid reasons for his belief. Those reasons weren't valid for Alden, and he definitely came away with a very negative impression of Klein, but even Alden acknowledged those reasons would be valid for someone who wasn't him.
As much as I don't expect it, I kind of hope that Ash's new desire to 'use' Alden will bring in Instructor Luna Plim, and together they can geek out and begin exposing Bearer. Seriously, Alden needs to start leveling up his fake profile. I think it was a big mistake on his part not to level it up a few times after the Submerger incident--he's going to only start leveling up faster as time goes on, and it's going to get harder to hide. Even if the faculty want to be control freaks about afixations/skills for leveling students, at this point he just needs to play the 'Knights on Matedero gave me advice and I trust them' line to brush that off/explain his weird choices.
While i agree its too strong for a level 3 skill, it is reasonable from the faculties perspective to think that he has in fact leveled but the system just hasn't told him yet. They tried to have him have a break after the submerger incident to avoid any stress-related system silence, i think he still has time before they pull the mental health card on him again for not leveling. As for Ash and Plim experimenting with him to expose him, I think all that do is prove the point of his entruster and their mindset and involvement being incredibly relevant. Klien (and probably all faculty) consider the whole entrustment situation a pointless limiter on a harmless power, once they realise that a good and proper entrustment makes the preservation stronger, any strength Alden has from being level 10 could be just assumed to be just purely magic-related shenanigans. No one has ever tried to do combat rabbit, and being a skills-based class he has a lot of unknowns that help him.
I look forward when someone will finally snap at Ash. Like… telling students that hard work is taken for granted when he half-ass every lesson he teaches -.-''
He won't care. We already saw what happens when someone snaps at him from Raul. He advised him to be more inspiring, then went right back to ignoring him.
Vandy is absolutely going to be the one to figure Alden out. Everyone else will see him do something improbable and say “that seems wrong but I don’t know enough about rabbits to dispute it.” Vandy will do the math, and will call bullsh*t.
Vandy might collect all the evidence and might even come to the right conclusion, but will throw it all out of the window because Avowed being wizards is against the rules and every authority figure says it's impossible. Her character arc needs a thorough re examination of how rules are formed, how they are misused and how damn useless they can be.
A fun notion I've recently brewed in the sour cauldron of my thoughts: Brutes are focused on providing some kind of highly body-oriented utility, often focusing around a specific stat, or more rarely around a specific action (morph) or environment (aqua, glacial). I doubt the artonans have made a Sympathy for Magic brute, because they have rabbits for that. An appeal brute also seems like a bad idea, though maybe it'd be more popular than Sway. Arguably, the sensory brutes *are* the processing brutes. A true processing brute probably can't realistically function given how long it takes to fully bring full processing points online. Sensory stuff is probably a lot easier to bring online. Plus, I don't think the Artonans actually want to make the avowed that smart. However, there's one idea that seems like it could be a real thing: the Aero Brute. Brutes specialized in high elevations, thin atmospheres, and the like. Probably ranging from people who're really good at working in the death zones of mountains at the lower levels, to people who're good at hovering and using skills like the once-mentioned Bounce Repeater around C rank or so, then people who can do short distance flight in various conditions for work purpose, people who're respectably gifted at fast or long distance flight, and people who might eventually fly well enough to work as SSTO craft and satellite repairperson or whatnot. Who knows? Maybe that's Rebecca's never revealed 'leaper brute' class, and she just has a really off-meta build. Or maybe she didn't get something that fancy and superman-ish and she's just trying to pretend with a strength, speed, or agility brute class. She did originally want a ranged meister class, and her family couldn't get her that, so it's possible trading into a fancy brute wasn't in the cards either. I assume it'd have a lot of crossover with the other enviro-brutes (there's a good amount of overlap between being in the sky and falling into the sea or being in the sky and being cold as hell), and also the sensory brutes (you can see a lot from way up there), but it's big thing foundation point wise would probably be adaptation for consistent oxygenation and low pressure tolerance and such.
Maybe Aero Brutes are specialized for working in chocolate factories. Kind of the Oompa-Loompas of the Soupiverse.
The System really does do a pretty good job of pairing people with odd/unique abilities sometimes: Kon: “you’re social, enjoy traveling, unsure of the hero path. Have this nice unique repair ability that lets you travel the universe with cool aliens!” Lexi: “Here’s a whip that burns shit when you’re in a bad mood. Oh, and here’s a weirdo rabbit roommate for you. Haha, suck it, chaos”
Gorgon explicitly said that what a person was assigned had nothing to do with their personality. Also, we've seen class regret - not just Mina the Sway, but Ryada-bess as well. This is the greatest crime the Artonans are committing: they are changing people in fundamental ways without their true knowledge.
TFTC! Looking forward to Alden bragging to Stuart about what he did with his ability, and Stuart being like, uh yeah, that's what we did with the water
Am I the only one that likes Ash? Yes, he’s a bit (lot) of an esshole. But in being like a six year old, he is the embodiment of using what grabs attention and causes inspiration as a guiding light. The reason things are eye catching to begin with is because their subconsciously held value/importance. Something too often overlooked for straight forward logic and effort alone, desiring effort matching rewards. He just forces that child like kind of thinking out of his students by being a literal six year old. Over a lecture on novelty, which may or may not stick, he himself is the hurdle that forces them to confront it.
He doesn't specify that unique magical interactions is what he cares about, meaning a lot of the class misapply their effort in writing proposals and he's sabotaging his own goal of seeing interesting things. Honestly, that is his cardinal sin as a teacher and as a character. He would get a lot more novel runs if he straight up told his students that's what the rubric for success is.
This just fully cements my opinion as an educator that Ash should be teaching uni instead of allowed anywhere near first year high school students. Nothing he's said is wrong at all, he's just assuming his audience already has the path he wants them to develop along partially figured out, when some of his students haven't even been Avowed for a full year. He's shown he has good insight, his deduction of why LMTYL was translated that way is great and hit surprisingly close to what Bearer actually is, (I also love the detail of how the names relate btw.) But why didn't Ash give that spiel about finding novelty being important the first day of class? He doesn't give his students any guidance at all. Hard work not mattering is the best summary of his views and his class, and that one sentence alone is proof why his class isn't worthwhile.
Agreed. My first thought was that he kinda reminds me of the type of college professor who is at the university to do *research* and only teaches classes when absolutely necessary to keep their job doing the thing they actually like. Maybe he's waiting for a position to open up in the university? I get the vague impression that he was a hero, got burned out on it like Klein, and somehow wound up at CNH while deciding how to pivot from that.
I can’t tell from Ash’s analysis if he’s actually hitting the idea of assisting magic or just flirting with the edges of it, and whether or not his take is actually insightful in my eyes depends on that. If he’s off the mark slightly then his advice wouldn’t even really be that actionable. Because on one hand he could be saying that ‘taking luggage’ in LMTYL is a way of taking a load off the ‘traveler’ or the wizard in the sense that he’s acting as a assist or a support to magic. That would be a genuinely impressive deduction… Or he could just be saying that Alden’s great for holding magic stuff, like meister knives, and that’s why it happened. It kind of sounds like he means the latter? But the first one makes more sense if you interpret LMTYL as Ash seems to suggest. Also as a side note, if that’s actually the intent that went into the name for LMTYL, then the wizards on the committee who decided the name are clever and slightly funny imo.
I think Ash would assume LMTYL is good for holding magic items. It’s only a B rank skill and supposedly level 4? No one expects a skill like that to have applications supporting magic itself on top of all its other applications. Magic doesn’t really sound like luggage either. Ash seemed focused on the physical aspect of luggage and seemed to think magical items might be included in that if the skill is aimed at wizards.
Awesome chapter! Ash is still a disappointment. Medhi is still a jackass. I'm super happy Ignacio learned better to control the recall rate of his skill. And I think a paper klerm will convince Alden to tell the real frog story off the cuff.
Mehdi is a Grade 9 kid! I am glad that social media didn't exist when I was his age. I had so many cringe-worthy things to say and do.
I am impressed with how bad Ash is at this. He can’t even imagine that Alden figured out how to make Ignacio’s skill work with Bearer in a way that helped Alden. Because Alden realized that by holding the little piece of Ignacio’s power, Ignacio simultaneous holds Alden. That’s not the knife skill: that’s Alden’s skill. Leading edge has nothing to do with it.
To be fair, it's a completely out of context problem for both him and almost every other human. They're intentionally kept ignorant of how everything actually works, and fundamentally unable to percieve the mdchanisms behind abilities. We have the benefit of our POV Character but for anybody else in universe they would probably need to be some flavour of crazy to even conceptualize such a broad B-rank ability. In fact we've seen one other character brush up against the breadth of how an ability can be changed with the users perception, Manon, and she WAS some kind of crazy!
The thing is that given what Mehdi knows, he's genuinely not wrong. Alden has the ability to help out a wide variety of Avowed with their talents in permanent ways. Turns out a lot of Wizards could probably do something similar, they just... don't, probably because politics or it's hard or whatever. Authority sense is a huge deal for using skills besides the relevant part where it tortures you beyond comprehension.
We don't actually know that wizards don't do this. Some of the more serious ones probably actually spend a lot of time helping train advanced avowed. Heck, there's a knight team working with top avowed explicitly to train them in fighting demons.
I am sure Stuart has fascinating ideas about the magical theory behind Rabbit Recall.
for the advancement or->of*? your talents
I keep going over and over in my brain about what Alden COULD say. Like theoretically, if one of his class mates mentioned they were trying to decide between taking another affixation or filling of the levels for the one they already have.. then it wouldn’t be bad for him to say, “I think you should fill out the one you’ve got first, unless you’re looking at a specific spell that would synergise well with the one you already have”. Right?
Most avowed are not offered the chance to put more authority into an existing skill. They have to grow the skill naturally until it fills out as far as it can (because most skills are capped). So, they basically get whatever 'rewards' the Contract offers them, whether that is a skill, spell, or ability points.
Oh one day Ash, ash ash. One day ash you will realize that you had the single most important hero on the planet. Man kinds only true wizard. A knight. Friend of the primaries son. Favored by *Mother* A child with the magical congressional medal of honor. *The Bearer Of All Burdens* (An actually Wizard recognized title) And you will realize you blew them off and ignored them because of a letter ranking of their power. It will be ash in you mouth.
Pretty much everyone on campus knows that Alden flies back and forth FROM MATADERO in General Esh-erdi's person nonagon flier. That should be something of a clue to Ash that isn't your regular pissant B-rank Rabbit.
The Pizza Analogy for Alden’s new trick 1-Ignacio (customer) orders a pizza (the knife) 2-Alden (pizza delivery) carries the pizza using his Bearer of All Burdens skill 3-Ignacio wanted the pizza and Alden 2 things which is wrong started doubting himself and his skill failed 4-Alden made himself and the pizza 1 entity? 5- Ignacio recalled because Alden made it easy for him Did I get it right?
Looks about right! It was so confusing on the first read, honestly. I don't know that there is much more that can be done about it. You basically just have to either stay confused or do a re-read.
I wonder if Ash is going to be the one to finally scrutinize all of Alden's inconsistent performances and conclude that something does not add up. His sudden manic interest and apparent fluency in the faculty data interface points to it. By "inconsistent performances" I mean the way Alden has, in the past, performed below capacity, avoided using his skill in the most efficient ways ("Why a knife and a backpack?"), etc. He might even have instances of BoaB's upper limits being reached, which on its own isn't that big a deal, but with a few instances of it on record a growth rate could be established. On another note, I thought it was kind of funny how bothered Alden is by the idea of just supporting Meisters on Earth instead of Knights in space. He doesn't really belong in the hero class except to kill time until he has to move on. He "should" be training with wizards and/or knights, who are equipped to identify areas of growth in Skills themselves-- and in Authority use. Yet here he is being regarded as a surprisingly good pencil sharpener, having to think about proper responses that don't give away the truth that he's not a pencil sharpener at all.
> On another note, I thought it was kind of funny how bothered Alden is by the idea of just supporting Meisters on Earth instead of Knights in space. i think his disillusionment with average hero work boils down to “why would I want to spend my time training Marsha to fling herself more efficiently at escaping soccer moms?”
Alden being a Meister trainer reminds me of the idea that Superman would do a lot more good turning a large generator and creating tons of free energy rather than zooming around rescuing people.
SMBC did a comic about just that! https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-07-13
Alden is granted a little bit of the entrusters authority. More so if the object is closely tied to the entruster. Alden can't break the connection between a meister a and his tools without violating that trust. If Ignacio saw his connection as flowing through Alden to his knife, and pulled with that in mind, he might find pulling easier.
Really hoping that Alden somehow ends up telling the story he's been wanting to tell, rather than the story he's been memorizing. This arc also made me think way too much about the Frog Prince fairy tale, and made me realize that (at least in the original) it's about how a frog just doesn't fit in a princess's life. The frog wishes to be a prince, and since this is a time "when wishing is having", he gets his wish, which makes everyone around him miserable.
In the fairytale, the frog was already a prince, he was just cursed into a frog. I have a whole big breakdown back in the chapter where we got this story. For the frog's part, though, his entire strategy was based on the hope of the princess acting on her own self interest (not on doing what he was literally asking her to do). It seems clear that she needed to try to kill him for his curse to be broken. If she had kept her promise and obeyed her dad like a good girl, they would have both been stuck with a fairly cursed situation. In the end, they arguably both got something they wanted. She got out of the house where her dad could order her around (an important goal for many young people even today). Doing it via marriage was one of the few ways available to women during that time period. I think it's very reasonably implied that they got married and lived happily ever after. In that time period, there wasn't all that much in the way of better options for a young woman than scoring a high value marriage. Hence so many fairy tales focusing on dodging the obstacles in between you and your high value marriage (economic security, etc.) The 1st edition of the fairy tale (since we and Alden got the 7th edition) is mostly the same, but it has some interesting differences. I found you can read the whole thing in the preview for the Jack Zipes 1st edition translation on Amazon. 7th edition: >>> But when he fell down, he was no Frog but a King’s Son with beautiful kind eyes! >>> He, by her father’s will, was now her dear companion and husband. 1st edition: >>> But the frog didn't fall down dead. Instead, when he fell down on the bed, he became a handsome young prince. Well, now indeed he did become her dear companion, and she cherished him as she had promised, and in their delight they fell asleep together. In other words, she wasn't ok with the frog (and expressed that with trying to kill him), but it seems pretty clear the prince looks like a better bargain to her. Repulsed by the frog, doing everything she can to get out of the promise, versus her keeping her promise and them being mutually delighted. In the modern day you've probably heard the joke about how you have to kiss a lot of frogs to finally find your prince. Perhaps the modern corollary of this story is if it looks like a frog to you, don't hesitate to toss it against the wall. One day someone will rebound with proof he's actually a prince and THEN you can marry him. In the mean time, pitch as many frogs as you need to.
1) It's crazy how *good* Ash's advice would be if Alden weren't Alden. Like, he's an asshole but if Alden didn't have Joe and Stu's lessons as well as his own wizardy informed experiments, everything Ash said would be good advice. 2) I absolutely love that Lute is a dedicated, unrepentant artist at every opportunity. School project? It's going to be a deeply personal expose on how what we consider monsters are in some ways just primitive creatures trying to survive, set in a fairy tale world that evokes the wonder of childhood and reminds the listener of what the wolf was denied. 3) If Alden goes after Lute and does his funny joke poem the professor is going to make him feel *shame*. EDIT: Ash being a talented human wizard equivalent, eating tons of sweets, only giving students who interest him any of his time, fleeing from all of them, and stuffing things in his pockets: ASH IS THE HUMAN ANALOG OF JOE!
I enjoyed these takes!
After so profoundly embodying Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf’s howl, Lute would clearly excel at an adaptation of the Elder’s Croak. The younger brother would be Jesslia, if his name was still remembered, of course. But even without his being named, I’d be willing to bet the younger brother’s voice would be surprisingly feminine & familiar.
I wonder how fast this incident will lead to Alden getting harassed by every Meister on campus or with power.
Gotta wonder, how big a gossip is Ash? Is he the kind to brag about how his amazing teaching skill has led a student to an impressive discovery? That would be bad for Alden.
“Did he say how an Agility Brute should use you as a stepping stone?” Alden turned toward Mehdi. << Mehdi, your skill in Sense Impending Burderation has improved! (2) >> “I mean that with respect,” said Mehdi. “Lots of respect.”
Wow, accidentally canonically accurate - from C124 (mentioned by SleeperBrute on the Discord) > “Rein can probably hit him,” said Astrid. “Mehdi’s got his threat detection skill, but its radius is a little less than three meters right now.”
This chapter is so good. At the end of the day Ignacio is ultimately getting a little bit of experience using his skill weird and a bit of an easier time exploring speed with his recall, and Alden is learning a whole new side of his ability plus free casting but everyone's freaking out about Ignacios learning.
Mehdi was particularly annoying for me this chapter, but he has a point. How does Alden even synergize with an Agility brute? I guess he cant... yet?
if its bearing ALLLL burdens surly he could bear skill and talent fatigue eventualy? litrally growing into an omni battery, plug into anything and make it go weeeeee
I get that he has to hide it, but the rankism still rankles.
This chapter was so much fun. I laughed out loud repeatedly & really enjoyed the excellent use of established characters to show a wide variety of reactions/perspectives on Alden/Ignacio’s discovery. Beautifully done. Question: Given that 1) no one has Alden’s skill, 2) no one will be getting it in the future, & 3) no other human has ever experienced authority sense, how it feels, or how it works, why can’t Alden just pass off the wizardy part of Floating Rabbit as discovering a new part of his skill? Since his skill was observably interacting with another skill, why not just claim that he could feel his skill reaching out to Ignacio’s & guiding it or supporting it? Surely that could slot into the narrative people are coming up with on their own already.
anesidora is the sort of place with artonan wizards who would be able to tell the difference between skill use and free authority use walking around, so he probably wants to avoid being too obvious
Once Alden comes out as a wizard, people are going to go over everything he has said and done on Anesidora. They will try to find places where he talked about himself – his thoughts, his feelings. They will put these under a microscope to try to get some insight on How A (human) Wizard Actually Thinks. Basically, wherever there was infogear, there will someone be sifting for meaning. One large chapter of any dossier that will be prepared about him will be the upcoming Klerm Prince story. Every word, every nuance will be studied with the greatest care. Some of what these future researchers will come up with will be useful. Some will be as wrong as the xkcd cartoon below. https://xkcd.com/799/
Don’t forget! They’ll also study every facial expression they’ve caught on film!
So it makes a little more sense. Alden was right on when he said Ash doesn’t respect his skill, but it goes further. Ash doesn’t respect magic. Ash isn’t like every other magic adjacent person we’ve seen. (Even Grandwitch - who revered magic almost like it was a blind god, to my reading, even if she didn’t get it) Ash is ‘interested’ in the effects of magic. He is interested in mining luck. He is wanting to exploit a strict system that he can interpret and intuit and puzzle out like an engineering problem given a number of clues by the system. But, when you compare that to wizards and nights and what we know of authority, the culture of this story is typically so different that it isn’t till this chapter that I could even consider that the maximal ring wearing, six year old teacher, who used coursing sessions to road test his own spell selections would consider magic only so far as his own power and benefit are concerned. I don’t think he has any awe of magic.
I wouldn't say it's the fault of Ash, but the fault of the System and the wizards that designed it that way. They use simple, utilistic language that portrays skills as buttons to push. They don't want a perspective that allows awe or whimsy and don't allow access to wizardly lessons. Ash is a product of this System, including the elitism. His interpretation is already miles better than any other superhero adult has attempted with Alden - even though this analysis is meant to primarily benefit Ignacio and other Meisters.
It frustrates me how many people I've seen go "Ah, so that's why Ash still has a job! He doesn't care most of the time, but when he does, he's a good teacher." That misrepresents both Ash and what it means to be a good teacher. Ash can be quite insightful when he wants to be—which is rarely—and that can be very useful for a teacher. But for all that insight, it doesn't seem all that practical so far? Like, sure, good idea to pick apart Alden's skill's name for a better understanding of how it works, but he didn't come up with anything Alden doesn't already know. That would've been useful had Alden not known so much about his skill already...but then they probably wouldn't have been able to pull off Rabbit Body Recall in the first place, so it's sort of a moot point. Plus, his advice to Ignacio is super obvious. "Hey, the guy you just had crazy magic synergy with? Work with him some more; you might learn something." Thanks, Captain Obvious, he would never have figured that one out without you. Maybe he'll get better as he learns more about Alden's skill and how it interacts with Ignacio's magic, but as of right now, his advisement is really just a surface-level read that sounds smart. But whatever. For the sake of argument, let's say Ash really is as keen as Luna Plim. Even if he is, that STILL wouldn't make him a good teacher on that merit alone. Being a good teacher requires more than good insight; it requires you to be able to inspire your students, to inform them of new information and help them internalize it, to challenge them and to help them understand the how's and why's of their successes and failures. A great teacher can do all of that, a good teacher at least some of it, but Ash is either unwilling or unable to provide any of that except in a select case-by-case basis. That does not a good teacher make.
Oh, also: he's a clear rankist. Any teacher with prejudices or bias against their students cannot be a good teacher. Full-stop.
feels like something is building up but i don't know what.
Reveal to Esh!
I can see why Ash is a teacher now, but good lord is he an awful teacher. They should just keep him as a college level instructor - I don't see the point of keeping him around for younger students when he's so obviously disinterested in actually raising talent, he seems more useful for teaching polished gems how to move to the next level once they've fully mastered their abilities and need something extra to go further. I also kinda understand Mehdi a little bit more as well and he's not a bad kid, just deep in the mines of rankism which colors his perspective on everything. I would love to see a situation where Alden and Mehdi are stuck together for a bit and see how it would go.
I think that's part of the main reason he only teaches this class, a superhero Sports class basically as opposed to MPE which is more.... PE/Self Defense, and Superlatives. At least that we know of. This class is for people who want to *compete,* and Ash is primarily interested in the Varsity students. I agree he's shit at communicating his expectations though at least until you catch his eye.
I’ve been trying to think of what Brutes like Mehdi could learn through Alden. One thing avenue might be improving their awareness and control of the magic related to their stat increases. The stats seem to act like passive effects that refuels as quickly as it burns magic. But what if Brutes could learn to “flex” their stats to gain big temporary boosts in exchange for exhausting/diminishing the passive effects until their magic can recovers. Sort of like purposefully doubling up on their stats. It would give Brutes a potent but risky card to keep up their sleeves.
This is already a thing in story, called 'doubling on' and even Waker has only managed it a few times.
I wonder if Lexi will let Alden preserve Writher. Also, is it safe for Lexi to practice Writher pull-ups outside the gym? > A woman who was repairing one of the climate-controlled planting beds looked over at them. Why is planting-bed repair woman in the chapter? Maybe she’s wearing infogear?
Maybe Jupiter borrowed another bush before coursing.
I adore the story-time storyline. I cannot wait for Ash to get off my screen. Seriously, someone needs to inform Gloom who she employs. (Bedlam Beldam? The Principal.)
Ghosten
You know... I feel like it's very common for presentation classes to take way to long. And get extended to a second class section. Alden might have time to rewrite his story after all.
(1000 years later) And that class was the very first use of Human to Human Authority in history. Though it was many years yet until true Wizardry spread beyond Quiet Rabbit's inner circle of friends, his efforts to pull off "Rabbit Recall" as a party trick paved the way for hundreds of Avowed to eventually be offered The Choice.
Oh my god, so much good stuff here. Okay, I'll just rapid fire it. Didn't really think about it before, but I think figuring out that the system can and does lie would be a *big deal* culturally speaking... Like, beyond the consequences to Alden personally, that's going to create a whole lot of pretty justified paranoia and resentment. As usual, I mostly just feel bad for everyone who's trying to understand the nature of the supernatural powers that distorted their world while most of the illuminating details are being actively hidden from them. The people most associated with that kind of effort (Ash and Aulia) have been annoying/antagonistic so far, though, and I'm not entirely sure what to make of that. ...Medhi's comment on Alden focusing on Meister-training is rude, but in a broader sense, he's not wrong. If Alden could figure out how to teach other humans about authority and wizardry and how to understand their skills better... that would be tremendous. Probably bigger than anything any single person could do otherwise, even an insanely powerful person. Not that he's *obligated* to do that, but... I don't know. And Lute getting really into storytelling and including vocal special effects and light-up puppets is something I should have seen coming.
I think it’s worth noting that while Ash and Aulia are far from the only characters that are trying to learn more about magic, what makes them such assholes is that learning more about magic is basically *all* they care about, even if their learning comes at the expense of those around them. Ash’s sole focus on seeing new magic interactions is causing his actual teaching to suck, hurting his students. And we’ve seen how Aulia’s interest in wizardry has lead to her actively hurting folks by hiring mannon, as well as how she treats people like Lute and others in her family.
I just love them all. Ignacio the down to earth badass, Haoyu the best bro, Mehdi the overcompetitive meathead, Vandy who can be forever counted on to have the best notes, Lute the working out his trauma via over the top class puppet show. Even Ash, who is definitely a selfish bastard but does have a nerdish enthusiasm I respect. He does make me want to facepalm and smack him upside the head simultaneously though. They're all really great characters with Alden being the best of all.
Also it's great that trilingual Ignacio was the one to point out that the English version of the skill name certainly isn't the only name it existed under. Ever since someone pointed out that Dragon Rabbit and Dragons above point to ryhbet being translated as a kind of dragon in the East (Ryu is Japanese for dragon isn't it?) I've wondered how different languages visualize the class. Is it an east vs west thing and those are the top two? Or are their more niche local variations. Question I will save for a Q&A.
Nice, thanks
This is cathartic for Lute, and it is about to be so epic. His red riding hood will become legend I am sure. Also “The puppets light up now… I’m so happy for you.” lol. Poor Alden
Ash and Klein must absolutely loathe each other half the time lol. Like I cannot imagine two more diametrically opposed teachers/teaching methods
I imagine Klein loathes Ash, but Ash just ignores Klein. He doesn't seem like the person that values others enough to hate them.
At least two typos. "thoroughly enough than anyone who ever felt like" than should be that. "I guess we it was good of him" the we shouldn't be there.
Sleyca will fix it on her reread prior to uploading to RR
For added bonus We just activated secret instructor of magic Alden. Let him grow infamous for helping avowed have breakthroughs while trying to avoid being noticeable about it
I am so expecting Alden to not use the funny version of his story when push comes to shove, and that would be so delightful
I love how Alden always sees himself as part of a team. It’s a really charming aspect of his personality. Like at the end of the chapter, Alden and the paper frog are teammates. We’ll be fine.” “We?” Alden held up his paper klerm.
Literally can’t get over Mehdi just being pushy the whole way back from class like an oblivious alt version of Ash lol.
I kind of love and admire how transparent Medhi is. “‘Did he say how an Agility Brute should use you as a stepping stone?’” He is so honest I can’t be mad
I’ve only read the first paragraph and Ash already makes so much more sense. His attention span is like he’s 5 because he has an obsessive level of ADD. He literally can’t go into the details because his hyperfocus has to hit on it for him to drag his attention enough to grab on. That also explains why he’s an instructor, he’s good at his job, but so singleminded in his hyperfocus that he can’t get there with every student every time. Edit: Still an ess-hole, but at least now he’s explained why he’s an ess-hole who ignores hard work in favor of novelty.
No, he's still bad at his job, even if he's good at analysing abilities. Teaching properly requires way more than this laissez-faire attitude he's putting in. While ADHD affects your focus and entails certain struggles in a job, it doesn't make you an asshole, and it doesn't make you incapable at the things you've described.
Alden’s going to be so mad when warin doyis points out that klerms can’t swim, or whatever.
I do appreciate how Ash is characterized, he's not just a one dimensional asshole. But you see his type in very competitve high stress environments and workplaces lol usually the best variation of his persona is also very hyper-competent and focused. but sadly really lacks social skills; very silicon valley tech innovator-coded lmao
I remember participating in debates about Klein when he was first introduced. I basically said that Klein wasn't a bad instructor and was not the monster that people were making him out to be. That view was, in my opinion, corroborated by his interaction with Alden outside of gym class when Alden thought he should hide his identity as he explored other career paths. Ash is more of an esshole than Klein, but I can't really bring myself to dislike him. I think his not letting every team run at least once a class is toxic for everyone's development, even teams that run more would benefit from seeing how other people solve problems with their skills and stats. That said, I don't disagree that you can't really teach hard work and discipline.
Ooo, I meant to just add another paragraph just now and submitted the comment instead. I wanted to add the caveat that I think you can structure your class in a way that establishes high expectations, which leads to hard work and discipline. But in Ash's case, since it's taken for granted that students will work hard regardless, there is a way in which his policy of only picking teams that he finds interesting can be effectively teaching kids that their hard work does not matter, which is obviously a problem.
some enraging moments here but not in a bad writing sense- in a good characterization sense, one that will hopefully Alden will feel some vindication at proving everyone wrong perhaps 100 chapters from now lol also, in the bigger picture isn't kinda f'd up what those anti-avowed factions did to the skill description? sure they're afraid that they might get too powerful or something but also its a fundamental aspect of someones being, and you're purposefully misleading them about the best way to develop it. Like it was hilarious to see Ash's first analysis of it to be completely antithetical to the spirit of the skill lol
I don't know that I'd say it was antithetical to BoaB. Like is Alden were to bear a secret, the one who have it to him may well forget it or just not be able to give it out themself. This would likely end up in a scenario like "I trust you with this secret. No matter what, don't let it go, even if I beg." So now, Alden has the secret and has to keep it away from the entruster, which is what they trusted him to do in the first place. Other examples could be bank cards, drugs they're heavily addicted to, or any number of things that they own but shouldn't have or use and know they shouldn't, thus things they would trust someone to keep away from them.
Man I really hate Ash. He is so close to being a good teacher but just totally fails. His "hard work is expected not exceptional" and rewarding people actually exploring their tallents in novel ways are good. But he just doesn't help anyone get there and doesn't even give people he think is inferior the chance to do that.
Also he doesn't exactly model hard work himself
EDITS There teammates were all standing together THERE > THEIR I guess we it was good of him DELETE WE
I didn’t notice it last chapter because of all the hype around Ignalden’s new skill but I think that this obstacle course was the first time that Alden has really been *support* heroey instead of just plain heroey (how the hell do i spell that). His biggest contributions to the team were his ability to bring out others’ (Ignacio’s) strengths and his reliability/emotional support for his teammates in a stressful situation. If the weaker hero in a duo doesn’t have that kind of rock-solid reliability then you end up with a situation like the Body Drainer incident. All that to say that Alden’s finally super *and* supportive!!
>>> “Did he say how an Agility Brute should use you as a stepping stone?” >>> Alden turned toward Mehdi. >>> “I mean that with respect,” said Mehdi. “Lots of respect.” I'm dying!
Truly breathtakingly funny lack of awareness from Mehdi lol
typos/editorial notes: >>> There teammates were all standing together a short walk away, and when their voices got loud, he could hear that they were still celebratory. There -> Their Their teammates were all standing together a short walk away, and when their voices got loud, he could hear that they were still celebratory. >>> I guess we it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us 'We' appears to be a fragment of some previous version of the paragraph. I guess it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us >>> He wanted to make sure we all know that my main worth is as a catalyst for the advancement or your talents. think this 'or' was supposed 'of' He wanted to make sure we all know that my main worth is as a catalyst for the advancement of your talents. >>> Although that didn’t apply to Vandy, who interrogated him thoroughly enough than anyone who ever felt like they’d missed the chance could just look over her notes. 'than' -> 'that' Although that didn’t apply to Vandy, who interrogated him thoroughly enough that anyone who ever felt like they’d missed the chance could just look over her notes.
After mulling it over, I don’t think Ash saying “there’s nothing no special about hard work” is innately wrong, he just presented it in a terrible way. The Talent Development Program should be preselecting for hard workers, so it’s a basic expectation that everyone within the program work hard. It’s important, but it’s not special. Meanwhile, they are all the crème of the crop to the point that being the best among such a group requires an X factor, something to help leverage your own hard work that much more effectively than everyone else’s. Alden simply has the potential to be that rare X factor for Ignacio.
The difference between the application of that idea I think is Critical. Both Klein and Ash think hard work should be the minimum people will need to succeed. But ash treats it like a boring baseline not worth considering. Where Klein actually acknowledges the students efforts and gives them feedback to continue. Ya know, like a TEACHER (I’m maintaining a simmering annoyance with ash that will take Herculean writing to get me to give him the benefit of the doubt lol)
"I guess ~~we~~ it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us instead of the obstacle he clearly designed to satisfy his own curiosity?"
More important than developing powers, will Lexi be the first member of the class to discover their superhero catchphrase? “Where is your urgency?!” Mehdi looked to the other two for help. “You guys need to tell him he’s not allowed to learn how to float and then not do it again for weeks.” “Typical” Lexi sighed.
"Goddamn it, Victor," Lexi sighed. "Why are you using your catchphrase so much?" Lute asked.
After his next affixation Ignacio is going to be like "that tickled" and Earth is going to panic.
This has been an ongoing thought of mine, but related to Boe. Part of Boe's power is the ability to feel what others feel, and to make others feel what he feels. The first time I saw that I thought "wait, could that also apply to authority sense?!". If anyone is going to be the second human after Alden to feel authority it will be Boe, or Boe will be the catalyst.
I like how sleyca ends up showing hidden depths in minor characters. Like Jeffy and his “use my impression harder” stuff, and Ignacio’s thoughts about the debt, and now we learn that Ash is… still an asshole. but in a whole new way.
Mehdi unwittingly points out another thing Alden has in common with Stu: Alden would be a trainer of rare worth, just like Stu would be a stellar votary. It just isn't the path they chose.
I was thinking that too!
It’s interesting that so many commenters are talking about how much they hate Ash, because I came away from this chapter thinking about how we now know what justifies his continued employment. Yes, obviously his disinterest is a despicable quality for a teacher, but the talent he demonstrated for analyzing and advising on a skill that he knew barely anything about was remarkable. He’s clearly an awful teacher for first-years, but if he can regularly provide this kind of advice he’s probably a great teacher for the students who have advanced a little more and have more unusual things to catch his interest.
Yeah he got a surprising amount right based on like a 30 second interaction and literally five words (the fake name of LMTYL)
Was Lexi’s skill the phasing ability or was that a function built into Writher? Because if Alden could help Lexi extend the phasing to anyone/anything that Writher grabs, that could be a massive game-changer for him.
I think it was built into Writher but I could be remembering wrong
Powerlevelling Rabbit - taking your Master to the pinnacle of his ability! Book now, while there are still time slots open. Ash is both worse and better than I expected. He puts serious thought into Alden's skill, but only because S-ranks can benefit from it. He makes good points that students should already putting in good effort and that only weird or brilliant stuff deserves his attention. Then again, he still sucks on bringing out this brilliance out of his students. I also find curious and a little sad that Alden chose the "cowardly" and funny version of the story, that he himself feels deeply unhappy with. I hope he figures out whether this lesson or the next one what a true and real frog story should look like.
Alden is still planning to use the funny version of the story now. During the actual class, I wonder if he will speak from the heart and surprise himself.
I keep waiting for the moment Ash becomes something more than an asswipe, but he's just so fundamentally selfish. And Rankist, but that's most everyone on the island. Like, Alden and Ignacio make a new skill interaction based on creativity and trust and unfettered magic, and Ash is immediately trying to break it down into the mechanics, as if they mattered more than the people involved. He's definitely one of those folks like Aulia who think they can learn Wizard magic by identifying the rules, where we know through Alden the secret is connecting to the world. This has left me feeling dramatic ir-ate-ony.
> Like, Alden and Ignacio make a new skill interaction based on creativity and trust and unfettered magic, and Ash is immediately trying to break it down into the mechanics, as if they mattered more than the people involved Pretty sure you just echoed Sleyca’s quiet thoughts on the soup-math mechanics crowd
Thanks so much for the chapter!
Good names for origami klerms:
Klermit
I love starting the day with a new chapter before I get up. Great stuff ! Alden is still in stealth mode, since most people are looking at Ignacio. I'm looking forward to Alden telling Stu about what happened. And as a lot of us suspected after the last chapter, Alden is planning on giving people stealth Authority Sense training.
Stealth Authority Sense training... Earth's system is going to LOVE that.
TFTC! Edit: I guess (xWEx) it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us instead of the obstacle he clearly designed to satisfy his own curiosity?” Edit: “He wanted to make sure we all know that my main worth is as a catalyst for the advancement OF your talents.
Future Ignacio “I made several breakthroughs with my skill while I was personally tutored by The RABBIT Knight” 🎬
“I might boldly ruin my life if you hit me with one of those things” sounds true.
*Sends message to Ash telling him what he really thinks of him*
I really hope Alden forms à close bond with Ignacio. It’s really obvious that Alden likes to help well-meaning people, and Ignacio put a lot of trust and respect into their interactions so far. Also, it is bold of Mehdi to choose *this* as the thing Alden should hang his laurels on. I know the kid has horse blinders on being on Anesidora his whole life, but Alden’s already been a representative to the Artonans, which is a much more lucrative job than Meister Monkey.
Plus! Alden relating with Ignacio’s struggle to get better at magic and deciding to help is much different than a breakthrough “happening.” I’m not going to bash Mehdi again in this comment because he’s misguided, but I straight up would to defend their trust of each other
So about skill development - small theory\question. We know that after getting skill person can grow it according with his perception. Like primary added "fair play" for his "cleaver of strength". BOAB contains potential to hold all type of burdens, but does it need to be unlocked solely by system or Alden can overtime shape it towards certain options without system assistance? Can it be even something that not intended by original design? And is it possible for Avowed or Knight to create own skill? That's probably what U-type is, right? So with this in mind for example would Ignacio able call something other then Alden. And in last chapter what Alden did was very close to what burden of spell suppose to do.
Q1. Does stuff need to be unlocked by the System? Nope! The System just binds free authority to make it happen. If you grow what is already bound, you can just do that. It may be harder/impossible for other people to actively shape their skill, still. Q2/3. Can à Knight create their own skill/use their skill for an unintentional design? Artonans design all of the skills. If they want a specific one, it seems like it may have already been made, but pre-affixing, the only limit to choice/creation of a skill seems to be how educated you are. Knight skills can grow into something unintended. Many Knights have outright stated this, but it’s treated as an interpretation or addition to the original skill. Q4. That’s what a U-Type is, right? No idea. It could be Knight skills for humans, or it could be something we haven’t discovered yet. Solid but unconfirmed theory. Q5. Would Ignacio be able to recall other stuff/was that burden of spell? The interaction seemed to be Alden boosting Ignacio’s skill with his free authority because of the way BOAB works. I don’t think Ignacio can now recall other stuff yet, but this may be a good start! Also, I don’t know what burden of spell is supposed to do in the first place. Maybe it allows for buildup spells to stay longer by preserving them? But whatever it is, it’s probably better to think of what happened last chapter like what Stuart did with Alden and the water puddle. Both involved free authority and a skill breakthrough.
Totally missed they WON on my first read Sleyca really doesn’t focus on their win, or the girl’s loss, everyone is more excited about floating, first year, Rabbit 🎬
I do wish the order of the narration was a bit different on this. Starting the chapter with the Ash ramble definitely made me feel like there was a transition lost somewhere, or worse, that I had missed a chapter, haha
Tftc! I do have one suggested edit though, the following paragraph was kind of weird. "Although that didn’t apply to Vandy, who interrogated him thoroughly enough than anyone who ever felt like they’d missed the chance could just look over her notes." It might work better as "Although that didn't apply to Vandy, who interrogated him more thoroughly than everyone else (combined). Anyone who ever felt like they’d missed the chance could just look over her notes." Also, uhh, if you see this Sleyca I may have to drop my subscription temporarily due to some financial issues. I have about 4 Patreon subs to some Royal Road authors, and yours is the only one I am seriously considering keeping for an extra month. Seeing that the next chapter is juuuust after when it would expire is really tempting me..... But tl;dr my grandma lost her Medicaid, and since I am her home health aid that leaves me out of a job.... So, more expensive medical bills + we lost a decent chunk of monthly income. We're trying to get her Medicaid back, and if we do next week I can keep all my Patreon subs but if we don't..... Sorry for the long story but I wanted to make it abundantly clear if my subscription lapses it is in no way due to the quality of the story or anything else. Love da Soup!
Hey, sorry to hear about your situation. If you're interested, hit me up and I'd be more than happy to gift a few months of soup. If you're not interested, feel free to just ignore me. Either way, hope your grandma's medicaid issues get resolved.
TFTC! So excited for the storytelling class!
“Thank you for the input. I’ll be ignoring it.”
that entire exchange was hilarious.
Vandy is the best. I love every moment we get of y that Type-A Queen of Nosy. Get in his business, Vandy!!! Figure out wizard-ing!!
I could never warm up to her after Lute's POV. The valedictorian/class-president act is funny, but I know deep down she is perfectly happy to tell other people their business and to stay in [what she sees as] their lanes.
Both Lute and Alden are drawn to telling their affixation stories through the lens of a traditional story. Will Alden stick to trying to make a joke out of it by sticking with the prince ex machina twist, or go for the version that feels most like his story even if he doesn't have an ending yet? Love Lute's enthusiasm for the artistry of how he tells the story. Wonder if Alden will be making more props live using his amazing speed origami skills...
Good job on also getting that last gasp win, Ignacio.
The Frog King has so many parallels with Ash’s Class Using the gym is literally a priceless resource (like the Gold Ball) that is casually given to the S Ranked (nobility) like a toy (see Gold Ball) while the wealth represented in the enchantments of the gym (Gold Ball) could be so much more impactful for the F Ranked (Frogs) is split up and spent on more Avowed teachers (not all metaphors work) 🎬
I think the point is more that the other frogs don’t even see anything special about the ball. That is why the frog is alone.
Step-rabbit, my meister weapon is stuck to you! I'll show myself out
"Don't worry, I can move with your.... Tool"
Mehdi really annoyed me this chapter. 'You might save more lives indirectly through all of those Meisters you upgrade than you will as a Rabbit superhero'. Firstly I disagree with this premise, no one's life purpose should be forced upon them, even a rabbit shouldn't be forced to serve their betters forever just because their power is tangentially useful for that. But even if you buy into her philosophy she is still completely wrong. Alden will in a few short years be a knight fighting chaos across other worlds. He will be saving entire planets, potentially thousands or hundreds of thousands of people. Any time he wastes helping random Meisters slightly improve their ability to recall their weapon at different speeds is time he is not training his literally life saving skill. I'm not sure how much of this is intentional but Alden's experience really does mirror casual discrimination pretty well. All these small microaggressions, the constant dismissal of what I can do (even if they are right). It really grates on you.
Mehdi is the embodiment of immature. So much so that I can't be bothered to see him as annoying - and neither can Alden. Another masterpiece Sleyca pulled off with side characters: Jeffy started out looking like the dumbest one but then displayed inner depths of thoughtfulness, albeit less articulate. While Mehdi remains childishly egotistic despite being probably older (As affix later in life). Even Winston grows up quicker than Mehdi at this stage :-)
This chapter was *much* tastier than the last one (to me at least). Sleyca's way to show personal development in meaningful dialogue without the distracting descriptions of gym equipment and magic is Apex. As for Ash, I am happy how him being capable and insightful beside being a very bad teacher was foreshadowed in his first appearance many chapters ago and now comes true. He shows the same knowledgeable, strategic, pragmatic thinking that may or may not be tainted by essholism, as in that staff meeting in Snake-Shaped letter. And now it's equally hard to see his personality as it was then. Looking forward to see his character unfolding.
I think it's noteworthy that Ash isn't written as one-dimensionally as he easily could have been. Yes, he's an "Ashhole", but he's also VERY correct when it comes to discussion of hard work. That particular exchange was VERY telling, and despite his horrible delivery, he was correct. (Very much a case of the "He's out of line, but he's right" meme) The point Ash makes about Hard Work really can't be minimized: Hard work is the BASELINE for people who truly excel. Spending *hours upon hours* well beyond what the normal person would consider "excessive" is the baseline required to be the very best at something, over and above raw talent. So many of Alden's classmates are very much like normal kids, because that's what they are: Normal kids. They aren't *natural* at excelling, even if they have been gifted with special powers. So, they need to learn and understand the new baseline that they are expected to have. Ash is trying to explain this to the boys. He's just very, very bad at doing that.
This interaction particularly got to me because he referred to Alden almost as an object. ... He swept an upturned palm toward Alden. “I can’t promise anything, but this one has shown that he has the potential to be helpful to you in an unusual way... ... "This one"... really!
Yes the is a bit of esshole showing in that manner of speech but also some languages format like that naturally. I dont know what ash’s native language but i wanted to drop him a potential out.
At this rate Ash is going to outright invite Alden to be an honorary member of the Superlatives club - Ignacio's previous request must be looking so prescient. Alden did want gym time practicing being a good partner with his skill, but he's going to need to exercise his important right to choose his own entrusters to ensure he's getting genuine partnership practice, not servant practice.
There's something ironic about Ash confirming the scope of his vision is thoroughly focused on Earth to two of his students most seriously preparing for someday work off world.
Ash is really into that "work smarter, not harder".
If only he could realize that working hard gave you the opportunity to work smart. Success being 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.
TLDR: Alden will be a Coursing Guinea Pig
Gotta love Vandy. I know there's only a couple of lines about her but they paint a hilarious picture. I wonder if the entrustment can be used to learn bearing various, otherwise difficult things? For example, Vandy entrusting Alden with the air she was shaping.
That's a really interesting idea! Which someone like Maricel or Njeri (water shaper) could use. Vandy's chosen element is going to be more difficult for Alden to grasp (in both senses of the word).
Wow. Ash is super into leveling and innovation. Its interesting to see his take on it from a different perspective. His ideas felt dirty somehow. Like someone who would use drugs to have a better performance. BUT he did have ideas that no other humans has said. Like how the system can name a skill but the name may not mean exactly what you think it does. Interesting. I wonder how he figured that out? And he suddenly lept to magical luggage! And now we have a new thought that it could be related to travel? I guess its not new, the system showed it could literally bear anything but its use in traveling need more thought. I agree with Alden that it seems like Ash was implying that others could use him as a stepping stone but I think he was intrigued with what Alden could do alone too. Anyway its a win for them Konstantly Awesome. Mehdi is such a jerk. I get what he is saying but I dont like why he says it. Selfish prick. Alden has to do that version of the story that is true for him right? He cant do the easy one he memorized. Thanks for the story!!!
I especially liked (hated) the way he said "don't take this the wrong way" at the beginning.
I'm so happy my dog woke me up early! Soup for breakfast!!
'Okay, I've finished reading the chapter. I'll just turn the computer off and wake my human up so they can read it too.'
I think Ash might be one of the worst (non-abusive/evil) teachers I've read in recent memory. It's so blindingly obvious that the only thing he wants is for Alden to be a whetstone for everyone instead of exploring the idea that *he* is the unique factor. I can excuse Medhi being an idiot because he's still a kid, but Ash's whole job is to provide *all* his students with feedback and knowledge. It would be more excusable for him to just be bad at teaching, but this chapter proves he knows how to teach, he just refuses to do so. Great chapter.
Ash is aware that Alden is the unique factor. Which is why he got called up alongside Shrike. The fact that Alden's unique factor is only significant so far as it reflects on Ignacio's learning is such a good character-defining moment for Ash.
Thanks for the chapter. Bets on how long before this gets out and Meisters are lining up at Aldens door?
When that happens i do hope he peels back some of the misconception about being a rabbit who serves random wizards and being one whos going to fight chaos. If they arent signing up for the military then they are wasting his time by replacing practice with people who are.
There teammates were all standing together a -> Their teammates
Considering that Ignacio was the frog metaphor all along I am excited to know what the rest of the story will be like (which we will likely hear in Alden's thoughts )
Ash theorised Alden's movement requirement geas here thinking that traveling might be important. He would have seen LMTYL and alden being forced to walk around and been like.... makes sense. and only a handfull of people ever knew about it, since he solved it barely a week after using his skill agin in intake. Edit: oops he did have the carriage requirement during the admission test, the faculty probably wonder what happened to it.
We can't really give Alden points for solving the carriage requirement quickly. He first affixed in February but didn't figure it out until late October.
You know, i just tealised that if artoans are wizards, then avowed are basically artificial sorcerers
Maybe they’re more warlocks, to use the dnd term? They get their powers by making a contract with a powerful magical entity, aka the system
I think this may be the most committed to schoolwork that we’ve ever seen Lute. He must really like this class.
Performing has always been his dream. He’s not stoked for the class, he’s stoked that he gets to perform in class.
I kinda fear that Ignacio will learn to perceive his own authority because of the practice with Alden.... and then be in pain forever :s
It took months in chaos while actively trying for Alden. No one becomes a wizards on accident.
Growlia Smellra got a cackle out of me.
Oops, Alden’s goose is cooked. He either has to sandbag in coursing from now on and risk his team not getting runs in the future, or give in and keep letting weird stuff like this happen. And nothing possibly revealing could ever come from that, surely.
Yet more focus on him getting explicit training centred around himself. I see no downside. The training itself will explain his progress.
I love that I got to get onto this straight away for once. It was great seeing how excited they all were to have Alden continue helping with breakthroughs. Ash's perspective is strange but I can get where he is coming from in part around the hard work in a special program part. I cant wait to see how the story goes. Fingers crossed he ditches his funny story for the globe one.
It would be something if Alden, in the heat of the moment, spoke his story from the heart rather than the story he's prepared.
Thank you for the chapter
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Love the small details of the advanced techniques of storytelling class and how Lute is using them! That, and Ash theorizing about wizards&travel and Let me take your luggage were my favourite parts. Depth like that is to me the reason why the story feels so real and alive.
It’s kinda funny that Alden might’ve actually benefited from any of those observations during the first week of being an avowed, but wouldn’t have received them since why would ash deign to help a random B rank Rabbit. And Alden is now so wildly more knowledgeable about his skill and powers than Ash could imagine, that it’s back to being essentially useless pontificating. “Oh be grateful little rabbit, I’m skillsplaining why you can be an excellent tool for better avowed” Legitimately think this class would be better if ash just designed courses, never said a word to any student, and blank check, let students run them.
Stupid Ash. Stupid meisters.
Yay for Klerm support! glad paper Klerm will be with Alden during his next class 🐸
aww, he's *so* nervous. I hope he can finish the other story eventually, for his own sake.
Wahoo soup! Ty sleyca as always. Ive been loving this arc !!
Edit Suggestion: I guess we it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us instead of the obstacle he clearly designed to satisfy his own curiosity?” ->I guess it was good of him to talk about the thing that might help us instead of the obstacle he clearly designed to satisfy his own curiosity?”
Interrogated him thoroughly enough *that* anyone…. Not *than*
soup is ON!!!!
*Their* teammates were all standing, not *there*
It’s disturbing to see Ash actively interested in his students’ development.
Nah, he is more interested in Alden’s ability to be a stepping-rabbit
Woo!
soup time :3
*wriggles with anticipation*
Let’s go!
Tftc!